


Of feathers and badgers

by Dragon_wolf



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, The Doctor (Doctor Who) Whump, Whump, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 12:06:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19005463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragon_wolf/pseuds/Dragon_wolf
Summary: Things were going to hell fast, basically as they always did. What else did she expect?





	Of feathers and badgers

**Author's Note:**

> Technically written off of a few prompts off of @gallifeathers winged!doctor prompt list, although they put the prompts up for 13 and i felt like using them for 10.  
> Sorry  
> Written on my phone and not really betaed, so brace yourself for typos.  
> (Pirate loop mentioned)

Things were going to hell fast, basically as they always did. What else did she expect?  
Donna thought back to how they got to this place, this space station. It was, the Doctor told her, a resort. Apparently people running this place didn't care what species came for a holiday here, as long as they behaved and payed for their rooms. And the Doctor promised her a bit of rest. Just for a few days, to recharge.  
Well, it didn't last. Things started going wrong about a day and a half in. Gravity being weird in different parts of the station, little systems going wrong, apparently a few of the crew going missing. The Doctor stood no chance of staying out of it. And neither did Donna.  
What was once a luxurious lobby now looked like a few bulls rampaged in it. Most things that could be upturned were upturned, any control for any of the station's systems that was present was smashed and lay on the carpet, sparkling. Donna could see scorch marks of gunfire on a lot of surfaces. She shuddered ever so slightly.  
The problem that arose soon after they started investigating was pirates. Space-pirates you could say, out for some holiday goer's fortune.   
Thankfully, the station was far enough away from anything to not crash if something went wrong. Unfortunately, it was far away from anybody who could help (not counting people who were already inside) if something went wrong.  
Some piece of machinery sparked over-enthusiastically and Donna backed away from it. She saw the Doctor, a whirlwind of limbs and feathers dash towards it with his sonic at the ready, trying to bring it under control. She was initially worried when he decided not to cloak his wings when they came here, but soon found out the sheer indifference towards who was around on behalf of the holiday makers. He caught a few of the visiting humans' gazes but paid no mind. Donna herself decided that she shouldn't worry about it. He probably knew better.  
The machine sparked once more and the Doctor flinched away from it. "They really did destroy everything here, didn't they. Even communications are gone" he murmured buzzing the sonic over a cluster of exposed wires.   
"In how much danger are we?" Donna asked, feeling strangely calm, considering that she was standing in a room totaled by space-pirates, who were still probably on the station with them.  
"Life support still going, so if nothing explodes, we're fine" he said and as on cue a curcit on the other side of the room exploded in a shower of sparks.  
"You sure?"  
"Mostly, yeah. Thought the station can't currently move and with communications down we can't send a distress call" he turned to her "but i think i can fix that, if we get to the flight deck"  
"And where is that?" She hasn't seen anything like a flight deck in all the time they were here  
"Ohh, not far i think" he scanned a half-dead pc "just a few corridors away if the map is to be believed"  
"And the pirates, where are they?"  
"I think..." he scanned the pc again, after a few seconds of which the piece of machinery finally died "oh. I think they got what they were looking for, so maybe they left"  
"But we can't be sure?"  
"No" he grinned at her, not concerned  
"Great" she sighed  
The way to the flight deck was empty, and so was the deck itself. No staff on the way, nobody trying to get the situation under control, but (thankfully) no bodies either. Maybe they just fled, there were supposed to be lifepods somewhere around.  
The flight deck looked much better than the lobby did, thought there were some traces of destruction present here too: some dents here and there, some scorch marks of gunfire.  
The Doctor quickly busied himself with the controlls, humming something to himself enthusiastically. It looked like everything was going to be resolved then and there.  
But it wasn't.  
Something to Donna's left whirred to life and she turned just in time to see it splutter and explode. She was standing quite close to it and the surprisingly strong shockwave knocked her off her feet.  
She supposed that maybe she blacked out, but when she opened her eyes only a few moments passed. She could hear only the ringing in her ears.  
A dark something filled her vision and she blinked rapidly a couple of times till she could see more clearly. It was the Doctor, a slightly frantic expression on his face.  
"..-na" she could hear hims saying (shouting?) "Ca-...-uo he-...-e" she concentrated and shook her head. Her hearing came back as if water was suddenly drained from her ears.  
"Donna" the Doctor was saying "can you hear me?"  
"Yeah, m fine" she sat up and her vision swam slightly "what was that?"  
"They seem to have messed with the controls a bit more than i initially thought. Sorry"  
She could hear something beeping in the background now. A quiet constant beeping, every second or so. "What's that?"  
The Doctor cocked his head to the side, as if he only just heard it (and maybe he did), and listened. The noise didn't get any louder, but, and maybe Donna just imagined it, it got faster?  
"Doesn't sound good" he sprang to his feet and moved to see what was making the sound. Donna got shakily up, still a bit out of it. She looked back towards the things that blew up on her. It looked like a control panel, now with a great hole in it, warped and melted plastic and metal pocking out.  
Wait. Was there something in there?  
She squinted and looked into the hole. There was a small LED-like light shining through it, turning on and off.  
Blinking in the rhythm with the beeping.  
"Doctor" she called cautiously, as if loud noises could set it off. He swirled around, feathers rustling behind his back. She nodded at the light, that she was sure was starting to blink faster now.  
"Oh" he breathed out, not moving from his spot a few meters away from her   
"Is that..?"  
"Seems like a bomb, yep"  
"Why is there a bomb in there" she hissed backing away from it carefully.  
"I'd say the pirates put it there, thought i'm not sure exactly why just yet"  
He took her hand in his as soon as he could reach it.   
"Running seems good" she said, turning to do so. He nodded.  
But they didn't get far.  
After a step or two away they heard the beeping stop and screech as if in pain, then a bang of an explosion.  
Donna felt the floor beneath her feet tremble a moment before the heat reached her, as well as the Doctor bundling her in his arms.  
At the back of her mind, as they were falling to the floor, she registered something blanket-like being wrapped around her. Then they fell and the wave of heat hit them. She blacked out.  
******  
A smell of something burnt was the first thing her mind registered as she came round. There was a dull ache echoing around her head. Thoughts came to her sluggishly and awkwardly.  
Yes, a bomb hidden in a control panel on the flight deck exploded. They didn't run away far enough so they were caught up in the blast. She tried to feel her body for broken bones and burns. She didn't feel any major injuries, her side hurt from falling to the floor and she could hear dull ringing, probably from the noise of the blast itself.  
She opened her eyes a crack. It was decidedly darker than before, but it didn't seem like a broken-lights darkness, more of something-blocking-the-light darkness.  
She tried to move, to get up, and discovered that there Was something around her, wrapped over her like a cocoon.  
Ah, yes. The Doctor grabbed her before they fell, that's what it was.   
Wait.  
The smell that she could feel. Wasn't that... burnt feathers?  
She could feel his arms around her now, holding her protectively to himself, thought now they were limp, and his ragged breathing coming in small streams of air over her hair. She felt with her hand to where she assumed his neck would be. She could feel both his hearts beating, thought rather faintly.  
The she disentangled herself from his hold and carefully raised his wing that was resting on top of her. She crawled out of the 'cocoon' and let the wing rest on the floor while she assessed the situation.  
The Doctor was out cold, still. The feathers of both of his wings were singed or even fully burned and in some places handfuls of them were straight missing. She could see stray burned and, alarmingly, bloody feathers around him scattered on the floor. The top wing itself seemed intact, unbroken, but she couldn't judge the bottom one.  
The Doctor's hair was slightly singed too and she feared that the entirety on his back was burned.  
She shook his shoulder "Doctor" she hissed, finding that the air stung her voice box. He didn't stir. "Wake up" she shook him again, more urgency in her voice this time.   
"Hhhh.." he groaned faintly as his features scrunched into a pained expression. He opened his eyes a small fraction of the way, his gaze unfocused. "Whhu"  
She sighed with some relief. "Don't do that again"  
"Donna" he tried to lift himself up but stopped and fell back with a small cry of pain. His top wing flailed back behind his back and she could see that the bottom one now. The 'wrist' joint was bent at an odd angle and the feathers surrounding it were partially darkened by blood.   
She gasped at the sight.  
"It's ok, i'm fine" he tried to assure her as he rolled over onto his back. He winced once more as the damaged wing jolted with movement.  
"Yeah, i can see that" she deadpaned "since when do broken bones count as the norm?"  
"Ok, it'll Be fine" he lifted himself on his elbows and was looking over the injury "just a sprain from what i can tell, no serious damage, thought hurts a lot"  
"And the blood?"  
"Cuts from the debry.." he trailed off then suddenly snapped his head up to look at her "are you ok?"  
"Yeah, fine, no burns or broken bones" she assured him.  
He nodded "good, good..."  
"Can you get up without... without hurting your wing more?" She asked, trying not to let worry seep into her voice. She felt she probably failed at that.  
"Uhhh, probably.." he tested his other wing, wincing slightly at the burns on it "if i don't try to move that joint, all should be well till we can mend it"  
He sat up and carefully got onto his feet. He tucked his relatively uninjured wing behind his back, keeping the sprained one out slightly, so that the injured joint was free and the 'wrist' of the wing hung limply a little way away from his shoulder.  
"Ok, now we need to sort this situation out and get back to the TARDIS so that i could do something about the sprain"  
"Easy to say 'sort the situation out'. The flight deck got fried" she said, hands on her hips  
"Yes, there's that" he rubbed his chin. His gaze strayed over the view of destruction in the doorway of the flightdeck and over the trashed hallway around them. "You know what we could do...?"  
******  
As the last pod whirred away from the space station the Doctor and Donna made their way across the trashed interior of the space station towards the TARDIS. The Doctor ended up restoring inside communication and instructing the holiday goers to pack up and leave as the station was in disrepair and was dangerous. It took a few hours for everyone to leave, considering the resort was pretty big.  
The pirates seemed to have left, which was good news, but the station could no longer move (they completely destroyed the engine-controls when they left) which was bad news, and the life-support systems worked off of engines, which were now failing, hence the life support would soon fail too, which was worse news. So people had to be evacuated.  
The Doctor seemed to be non-worse for wear, considering he pretty much shielded Donna from an explosion. He wobbled a bit more than usual, which he told her was because he used his wings for balance normally. His back was better than she thought it would be, only the fabric of his jacket was slightly burnt. His wings took the brunt of the explosion, hence their injuries. Thought she would've expected the damage to be worse, she was glad it wasn't. A sprained wing was bad enough.  
They were a corridor or so away from the TARDIS when they heard voices shouting forcefully around the corner. It sounded like orders were being barked in a rough voice and someone else (or multiple someones, it was hard to make out) was just meekly answering orders.  
Donna pressed herself intothe corridor wall and a second later she felt the Doctor do the same beside her. They listened.  
"We're here because you messed up, you idiots!" the louder voice said "you took the wrong case! How did you manage that?!"  
"Sorry sir" one of the quieter voices answered "they all looked the same"  
"You had to take a big black case" the louder continued "what did you take?"  
"...A small grey one"  
There was a thump and a muffled cry.  
"You go back there and take the propper one!" The louder voice commanded   
"But everyone's gone, captain" the second quiet voice said "they've all left, the case is probably with them"  
There was a growl and it quickly continued "b-but we should check!"  
"Sir" the first quiet voice started "i think someone's around. I can smell something, smells like bird"  
"Yeeeah... " the captain trailed off and there was a sniffling noise. Donna felt her knees tremble. She heard a shuffling to her side and the Doctor took her hand, then pulled her gently away from the corner. "Smells like a burned bird"  
There was a quick clumping of boots and she saw the three pirates emerge from behind the corner, their long badger snouts wrinkled as they sniffed the air. Their eyes fell upon Donna and the Doctor. The bigger pirate (presumably the captain) snarled in delight "found you little birdie!".  
"Heyy" the Doctor cooed at the badgers, smiling tightly "what can we do for you, gentlemen?" He and Donna took a cautious step back.  
"Looking for something specific?" Donna joined him  
The pirate captain ignored their words completely and barked "get them!" At his two companions, who snarled threateningly in response.  
The Doctor tugged on Donna's hand and she stumbled into a run right behing him. She could hear the badgers roaring behind them and it was incentive enough to keep up the speed.  
When they first encountered these pirates (not these specific ones, but presumably their mates) a few hours ago, the Doctor told Donna that he's seen them before, nicking, or trying to nick, an engine of a brilliant cruise ship. They weren't the brightest but were pretty ruthless, and these ones, unlike the ones he'd encountered before, seemed to be non-negotiable.  
Soon it became clear they could not outrun the pirates, as they were quickly gaining on them. So they changed tactics. Or, well, the Doctor did.  
He stopped suddenly and Donna ran straight past him. She slowed down a bit, looked over her shoulder and gasped.  
The Doctor was sprinting towards the badgers in a charging position, his wings folded back. The pirates looked taken aback and slowed almost to a halt when he reached them. He collided heavily with the captain and both cried out as they fell over onto the floor. The two underlings looked lost as the Doctor sprang up and waved at Donna to keep going. She hesitated a second, watching as the badger captain lifted himself to his feet and snarled at the Doctor, but the later has already taken a defensive position, his wings frilled up around his shoulders.  
She kept running, slightly slower than she was before. Then she heard another squabble behind her back and a cry of pain, which made her stop in her tracks.   
She looked back and saw that the Doctor was now on the ground, the pirate captain looming over him. His underlings looked like they were holding the Time Lord's wings, which were thrashing wildly.  
Without really thinking about it, Donna picked up a piece of broken something (it looked like a pipe) and raised it, running at a full sprint back to the badgers.  
She careened a bit awkwadly into one of the underlings, bringing the pipe down on his shoulder, but not before the Doctor's bird-like shriek pierced the air as one of his wings cracked under a blow from the badger captain.  
Donna twirled around as the first underling stumbled backwards away from her and hit the second one on the side. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that, now free, the Doctor hurled himself at the Captain once again, toppling him to the ground. He came out of the collision, wobbled slightly on his feet and took Donna's hand once again.  
They ran back to where the TARDIS was, the badger pirates squabbling and coming to their senses behind them. Donna could see one of the Doctor's wings was trailing uselessly behind him now. They pressed on till the reassuring form of the blue box appeared around the corner.  
Once the doors closed behind her Donna let herself breathe out in relief. She leaned against a coral-like column and tried to get her breath back.  
She looked over at the Doctor. He was leaning heavily against the console, imputing commands with shaking hands. One of his wings, the one that was uninjured earlier, now hung heavily to the ground.  
Donna calmed her breathing as the air filled with wheezing of ancient engines. She pushed herself away from the column and made her way to the console.  
"Riight, that's done" the Doctor humed "now to a different pressing matter" he turned to face Donna and immediately his expression changed to that of pain as his wing swung around.  
"Is it broken?" She asked, tentatively   
" 'Fraid so" he hissed through his teeth "not sure how badly, but definitely broken"  
"What do we do about it?"  
"Well..." he tried the other wing and flinched as the sprain let itself be known "we set the broken one in a cast"  
"Ookay... i suppose a hospital is out of question?" She murmured just loud enough for him to hear   
"Yeah, no, no hospitals for me, you're gonna have to help me" he looked over the broken wing, trying not to move it around.   
"Sure" she didn't feel confident as a nurse but in the circumstances she didn't have any choice "what do you need me to do?"  
He pointed her to a medical case and she helped him get down onto his back without jostling the fracture. They then, in a collaborative effort, lay the wing outstretched on the floor penperdicular to his body. The singed feathers looked almost black where they were supposed to be lighter.  
The 'wrist' was the broken part. It looked awkward, even layed out straight, and the feathers around it were bunched up unnaturally.   
"Ok, now... the 'fun' part" she could hear the airquotes in his voice "you'll have to check if the bones are aligned properly and if not - realign them"  
"Is that it" she said, slightly exasperated by the prospect   
"Sorry, sorry" he flutered "no other way"  
"I don't know if i can do this" she whispered   
"Of course you can! You're brilliant"  
He passed her the small x-ray device from the medkit and she scanned the injured joint. The result was shown on a tiny screen on the inside of the medkit's lid. No bones were fractured, but the main joint seemed to be slightly out of place.   
The Doctor reached over and pressed afew buttons and a semi-transparent picture of the same joint, but how it's supposed to be, overlayed the existing one "there, that should help" he humed   
"Thanks" she murmured. The screen showed a quick summary of the proceedure she was supposed to do and she tried to hang on to everything it showed. Realign the joint, wrap in bandages and set the cast over it. Simple (not really).  
She took a deel breath and carefully grabbed hold of the wing at either side of the joint. She could feel the Doctor tense up beside her.  
"You might wanna steady it first" he suggested in a pained tone.  
"Yes, yes, sorry, forgot" she repositioned herself and carefully put her knee just above the 'elbow' joint, careful not to put too much pressure on it "steady, here it goes"  
He almost cried out as she moved the bones to fit each other again. She could hear him whimpering involuntarily. She bit her lip and set the joint the way it's supposed to be.  
The whimpering died down and the Doctor relaxed under her.  
She waited a few seconds till the tension drained from the limb she was working on and pulled away, removing her knee from it's pressure point. When the wing didn't move she reached out for the bandage roll. It smelled strongly of antiseptic.  
Now, how does one go about bandaging a limb which has giant feathers all along one of it's sides.  
She carefully threaded the fabric between the bigger, tougher feathers while putting it over and bending the smaller softer ones. It looked almost comical.   
Then there was the cast. It looked basically like what she was used to but it hardened a lot quicker. She just put it over the bandage, careful not to get it on the feathers around it.  
Then she sighed and leaned back "there, done" she felt a weight slide off of her shoulders now that this was over.  
The Doctor smiled up at her from his position on the floor "thank you, dr. Noble"  
She chuckled briefly "we still have work to do thought, right?" She asked   
"Yeah, easier thought. Much easier" he lifted himself on his elbows and brought the sprained wing into view. The few cuts along it's side were now caked with dried blood and he winced slightly as the sprained joint moved around "i can manage mostly, but there are a few cuts i won't be able to reach"  
******  
Donna helped the Doctor wash the cuts and burns and place smaller softer bandages over them, as well as some special dressing that was supposed to help over the sprained joint. It was, as he promised, much easier than to deal with the broken wing and soon they were done. She helped him up and he stood slightly unbalanced.  
"Are you alright? Anything cut or broken?" He finally asked, looking her over   
"No, nothing. I'm fine" she looked at the mess of casting material and leftover bandages in the medkit, then back at him. He looked quite a bit better now that they addressed his injuries, but still "You risked your ability to fly to shield me-"  
"It's fine. I'm made of tougher stuff" he turned to the console and flipped a few switches "it's harder to hurt me than it is to hurt you"  
There was a small silence, broken only by the thrumming of the TARDIS.  
"How long till you can fly again?" She asked after a bit   
"A little under a month i think, maybe a bit more" he shrugged "heals pretty fast but not That fast"  
She took a step towards him and hugged him, careful of the injured limbs "next time don't pick a fight with a badger"  
He hugged her back "no promises"

**Author's Note:**

> i wanna scream, this took the whole day to write.   
> I'm not 100% clear if one should treat a broken wing in this scenario like normal broken bird's wing or like a broken human limb?  
> I went with the later, but idk.


End file.
